Women in Consumer Technology, an organization that promotes the advancement of women in the consumer technology industry, recently hosted its fifth annual Women in CT Career Enhancement Forum at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York. Held last month in conjunction with CE Week and titled “Design Your Life: A Roadmap to Success Amid Change,” the forum gave 85 attendees concrete ideas, inspiration, and step-by-step methods on how to achieve advancement in the consumer technology industry.
“I’ve attended the forum event every year, and each time I come away with a wealth of knowledge that helps me focus and achieve my career goals amid new challenges,” said Amelia Moore, a Women in CT member. “This year’s Women in CT Forum was full of valuable takeaways to help women lead in the CT industry.”
The forum opened with a passionate keynote address from The New York Times bestselling author, journalist, and popular lecturer, Gail Sheehy. With a writing career spanning 50 years, Sheehy is the embodiment of this year’s forum theme, having interviewed thousands of women and men and written 17 books, including “Passages” — named one of the 10 most influential books of our time by a Library of Congress survey. Sheehy described how, in a male dominated industry, she reached the top. She urged attendees to dream big, take risks, outlive the early failures, and build toward success with meaning and social purpose by midlife.
The hands-on interactive day also featured Sam Horn, who has presented at TEDxNASA and gave attendees a step-by-step plan on how to facilitate what is most meaningful in their lives. Kendra Thomas, head of global diversity for Pearson, presented a talk about leveraging gender intelligence to transform cultures. Deena Ghazarian, senior partner for TargetPath, and Melissa Andresko, communications director of public relations for Lutron Electronic, brought to life the group’s Connect Circle Program. The breakout sessions were indicative of how powerful the group’s monthly meetings are in the real world. Finally, award-winning journalist Andrea Smith and mother-daughter team Karyn Schoenbart, president and COO for the NPD Group, and Danielle Sporkin, client partner at the digital media agency Essence, shared generational experiences in how to use best practices for today’s business world.
“The mission of our annual Career Enhancement Forum is to give women the tools, information, and the support they need to succeed in CT,” said Carol Campbell, founder of Women in CT. “This year, many of the messages from our excellent lineup of speakers really hit home and generated a lot of discussion in our breakout sessions. The knowledge and relationships I saw being built are what Women in CT strives for and what make this conference a great asset to the women in the CT industry.”
The forum was open to women working in all segments of the CT industry, including manufacturers, major retailers, specialty retailers, suppliers, integrators, distributors, manufacturers’ representatives, buying groups, and consultants.
Women in Consumer Technology is an interactive community created to provide women in the consumer technology industry an environment promoting networking and professional growth through the development of relationships and new opportunities.
